"It's not believed any of the children are local children who have been victimized. There's no indication at this point," Woodworth said.

The arrest followed a one-month investigation by the Internet Child Exploitation Unit of the Integrated Criminal Investigation Division, she said.

Vitale, who has had a medical practice on Oxford Street, was scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court Friday afternoon to face charges of making available, possessing and accessing child pornography.

Vitale had had a licence to practise medicine in Nova Scotia since 1983, but it is unclear if he is currently practising.

In December 2013, health officials suspended Vitale's medical licence after he was accused of improperly mixing vaccinations for about 500 toddlers.

"It's an incredibly rare situation," Dr. Robin Taylor, medical officer of health for the Capital District Health Authority, told a 2013 news conference. "When vaccines that aren't meant to be mixed are mixed, it can compromise their effectiveness."

Taylor said health authorities asked parents to have the patients re-vaccinated to protect them from a long list of preventable diseases, including measles, mumps, tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio and rubella.

Dr. Gus Grant, registrar and CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, said at the time the young patients were supposed to get two or three separate vaccinations during each visit to their doctor, but they received only one mixed dose instead.

Grant said it appeared the doctor wanted to reduce the pain caused by multiple injections.

Taylor said the province's Public Health Department learned of a similar incident in 2006, when health officials accused Vitale of mixing vaccines for seven patients.

In May 2015, Vitale was reprimanded for prescribing medication for a family member while that relative was under the care of other health professionals. The college's investigations committee acknowledged "difficult personal factors," and that other treating health professionals were unavailable at the time.

Advertisements

Latest Canada & World News

Layla El-Azzi’s letter to Santa Claus wasn’t a wish list filled with items such as a new bike, or clothes or the latest toy even. In fact, it wasn’t a list at all. The nine-year-old girl had one simple request for Saint Nick this year – to end the dispute between Nova Scotia’s government and the province’s public school teachers.
Source

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump named fast-food executive Andy Puzder to head the Department of Labor on Thursday, drawing criticism from labour advocates worried about his opposition to a higher minimum wage and government regulation of the workplace.
Source

Members of the Simon Fraser University swim team shed their coats and kicked off their boots as they went “swimming” on a snow covered football field. Donning only speedos and goggles, the group of swimmers dove into the shin-deep snow – unusual for Burnaby, B.C.
Source

Airlines could let passengers make in-flight phone calls using Wi-Fi under a proposal from federal regulators.
Flight attendants and others have complained that the calls could be disruptive. But the Department of Transportation said Thursday that it envisioned allowing the calls if airlines tell all customers about the policy when they buy their tickets.
Source

PARIS - Both the rat and Nadine Mahe des Portes panicked when she inadvertently stepped on the rodent on her walk back from work through Paris. "I heard a terrible squeak," the property agent recalled with a shudder.
Source

PARIS -- Both Nadine Mahe des Portes and the rat panicked when she inadvertently stepped on it on her walk back from work through Paris. "I heard a terrible squeak," the property agent recalled with a shudder.
Source

An online threat against a Toronto high school was written by a student who attended classes with the same students police say he threatened to kill. Police say, on Tuesday morning, a 17-year-old male was arrested for allegedly plotting an attack against Oakwood C.I.
Source

FILE -- In this Oct, 22, 2016 file photo, Iraqi security forces inspect one of the damaged buildings after deadly clashes between Iraqi security forces and members of the Islamic state in the city of Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq.
Source

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korean lawmakers on Friday impeached President Park Geun-hye, a stunning and swift fall for the country’s first female leader amid protests that drew millions into the streets in united fury.
After the vote, parliamentary officials hand-delivered formal documents to the presidential Blue House that stripped Park of her power and allowed the country’s No.
Source

Hundreds of civilians streamed out of eastern Aleppo by foot on Friday as Syrian troops and allied forces waged a relentless campaign to drive rebels from their rapidly crumbling enclave.
Russia announced Thursday that the Syrian army was suspending combat operations to allow for the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held districts, but residents and medics inside eastern Aleppo said there was no letup in the bombardment.
Source